The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1887-05-13
Temperance AGITATION.

Temperance Agitation.
Communicated.
"Sojourner Truths" policy in reform
Il go in for agitation has never been
more fully shown than in the present
condition of the temperance question
Determined agitation alone has made
the question a,poltical issue that like
'Banco's Ghost. will not down.
y
Tie butter is in the milk and it is the
business of the churner to get it out
The conditions of success are ofold--
temperature and agitation. Ii the cream
is loo cold he may churn all day and ac-
complish nothing. If it is too warm il
will soon become puffy and sticky and
clog the dashef, bu, the butter glohules
viii not form. The proper temperature
for churning is cool, but not coId--from
90 to 90 degrees, the books say. But
temperature alone will not make butter.
There must be agitation Keep the
cream in an ice house. or in hot oven.
or al the uniform temperature of GO de
grees and ii will remain cream--or if il
changes it Will not be to butter. Agita-
ton inccssant and persistent, a, Just the
right temperature, Is the condition of
success
Now what is true in the dairy is true
in society, in church and in state Who.
ever would accomplish anything mus;
agitate. Human nature is indolent, IN
| different and phlegmatic Men will sub
init to great deal of injustice and
wrong before they are aroused to resist
| ance. Thus those whom God calls to be
reforners must he agitatcrs. They
must reason, appeal. exhort entreat
Nay, sometimes they must denounce
There is some latent good in fallen hu-
manity, as there is butter in cream But
to get 1t ont requires earnest and persist
ent effort
| Yet if the agitator does not keep his
temper, he will do more harm than good
He must be cool, but not cold On the
other hand, If he becomes too passionate,
he will excite passion, and the result
will be destructive violence. instead of
true and permanent reform. History is
full of agitations; yet how few of them
have been heallhful and beneticient. The
reason is obvious; the leaders had zeal
but it was not according to knowledge.
| They fired the passions of their follow
ers. They churned in heated a,mos-
| phere. They spoiled the cream and got
no butter Before Saul of Tarsus was
converted he was great agtator. But
his spirit was iirery and what a muss he
made of ii! After his conversion he was
Just as restless and jealous as before.
! But he had now the tranguilizing spirit
of love and faith. He toiled and trav.
eled and taught and suffered in new at
mosphera-that of grace, and how rich
were the results,
| There are men all over our land who
want to do good, who aspire to be lead
ers in great reforms. But they fail be-
cause they are too impatient and pugna-
clous. 1t they see anything that is
wrong, they want to attack it with fire
and sword. They cannot endure the
people who arc constitu,ionaliy OF con
| sclentjousiy conservative. They call
them by all sorts Of hard names. Mod
crate measures, in their vocabulary, are
compromises with sin and Satan. If
such reformers could rally strength
enough, they would burn every liquor
saloon and hang every rumseler But
we can't trust them to do our churning.
They fail because they agitate with the
cream boiling hot. Such men are un-
miuSated nuisances in all refcrmatory
movements. They want to serve Christ
without The spirit Of Christ. They think
thal they are sincere, but in even that
they are mistaken. Christian sincerity
IS calm, trnstful, and patient, while
earnest and Jealous.
But they who go to the other extreme
whose zeal is always down to zero, are
no better. They don't agitate They
don't believe in agitation And then
would fail if they attempted it, Who
ever thought of churnlng ice cream ?
Aud then people, kaowlng that they are
far below the. temperature for butter
making, just sweetcn the cream They
say, Don't let US have any excitement
Let US keep cool, let lis he patient and
trust in Providence. Things will come
on; ali right in the end Why, then,
should we make fuss about ,hem?'
They are the kind of people who said to
William Carey when he began the for
elgn missionary agitation, "St down.
yonag lnan, when the Lord eets ready 10
convert the heathens, lie will do so with
out your help"
To complete this lesson from the dairy
we must add that after the butter comes,
II has to be gathered 1t scatters in lit
tie giobules all through the butter milk
How shall the chnrner get these globules
together? He must move his daShcr To
and fro, or up and down, with a slow and
gentle motion. And IL is so in all moral
reforms. When agitation has awakened
the interest of men in that which ought
to be done, the individuals must be
brought together into organizations.
lllis requires some time, great deal of
patience and not & little charity. You
cannot compel men to cooperate with
you. They all have their own ideas as
to when and how. You must convince
persuade, and even compromise, before
you can gather a body strong enough &c
make itself felt. In many OF the great
est and best movements of the day there
's great want of the tact in gathering
And the result is that the globules float
about, and are called cranks or radicals
when. if they gave up their personal an
gulaiics and came together in cordial co
operation, they might accomplish grca
results.
OBADIAH OLDsCuOoI